Customer Reviews

The Alchemyst

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The twins Josh and Sophie start out thee day as normal to find that people they know, they really did not know, and a sane mundane world is anything but. Soon they find themselves part of a ten thousand year old prophecy that may bring about the demise of the world as we know it.

Needles to say I was drawn in to this title by the name of Nicolas Flámel. Instead of a biography I found a story that incorporated many mythical creatures and historic events into a consistent chase of bad guys against good guys that covers many of the major world's well know landmarks mostly in California or off shore. My favorite character is the Witch of Endor only a grand daughter could love.

One warning is that this book is a true cliffhanger and of no use without the second book.

I havent received this item and I purchased it on June 16th and today is July 19th. I wrote several emails with no response. Do not buy from this person!

I think I've found a new book love! Seriously, I haven't been this excited by a book series in ages. The Alchemyst tells the story of the legendary Nicholas Flamel who - along with two teenage siblings that happen to stumble into his world - is forced to flee from the evil beings that have taken his love and the precious secrets of history that he guards.

One of the first things you'll notice when reading The Alchemyst is the incredible amount of research that went into creating this series. It's extremely impressive - every character in the book (with the exception of the teens) is an actual character from history/mythology. This lends an incredible aura of believability to the story because it's so easy to imagine that all these great characters exist as we've heard of them all before. Along with the vast amounts research, it's also clear that an incredible amount of planning went into this book and the series that follows. And there's almost nothing I love more than a well-planned and thought-out series! Especially when everything comes together so brilliantly. The imagery in The Alchemyst is beautifully written in such a manner that you can clearly picture the surroundings, but are never bored with long descriptive passages that don't add to the overall story.

Filled with wonderful characters, natural dialogue, and a gripping plot, this first book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series does a wonderful job of laying out a complex and intricate world, while drawing the reader into a fascinating adventure. While directed at the YA audience, The Alchemyst will appeal to adults as well, and I for one am absolutely loving it. I've already read the next 2 books in the series, and am eagerly awaiting #4.

My first love has always been fantasy. ALWAYS. My shelf is a serious testament to that. So, when another avid reader suggests to me this book, and I read the back, I think I'm in for an excellent read. (Please note: I may spoil some things for you. Just a warning.)
It was terrible that I found myself highly disappointed.
This book is not for all generations but geared to those who are much younger. (In my defense, I believe that the Hunger Games and Harry Potter did a much better job of this). Josh and Sophie, who appear to be the main characters of the book, are, to put it frankly, childish. Perhaps its due to the fact that they are just introduced and then BAM! you are thrust into the action, but they are your typical teenager there is no doubt of that. And I find that twins being special. . . is quite overused. Yes, it has been well documented through history that twins share a special bond. But to suddenly make them into the "TWINS OF LEGEND, SPOKEN BY A GREAT MAGE" was just overdoing it. It just rang entirely false, and then just sets you up since as soon as you make them into something, one of the twins will always be "GOOD" and the other "EVIL" and I didn't need forshadowing to tell me that. I didn't even need Hekate to awaken Sophie and then "whoops! what about poor Josh?" even that part I was disappointed in. Although this is supposed to be about Nicholas, it just doesn't seem like that at all. Perhaps if Scott had named it the "Secrets of the Elder Race" I think that would have been more apt. You learn more about the elder race and its constituents than of Flamel itself, other that he appears to hold "secrets" and his aura smells like mint, and oh! that Dee has been chasing him for the secrets of the book that Flamel has in his possession. And, yes, he is immortal too. Him and his lovely wife Pernelle that is. Scatty is a breath of fresh air in many of his pages and this helped me to tolerate how bad this book was. On top of that, the plot that they must save the world or destroy it? -sighs- Well, let's just say I thought it would have been more imaginable than learning all the elements and going on from there. YES, the elements are important to being a magical being, but at the same time, it just seemed to be a means to an end. The only place I can give him credit (despite all the bashing I just did) is that he knows his history. Hekate, Bastet, Morrigan, the Witch of Endor, are fully fleshed out in their own way. You can tell he has spend an apt amount of time discovering who they were. Its just unfortunate that the rest of the story does not share his exuberance.

I meet each week with a group of Gr. 8 students early in the morning. We enjoy breakfast and chat about a book. We are currently reading The Alchemyst and love it. It has something for everyone and the girls have no problem juggling time to read this book into their already busy workload. We would recommend it to boys or girls who enjoy a well-written story with lots of twists and turns. It's great to know there are sequels, too.

Two twins can change the world, but little do they realize their whole lives are about to change when Dr. Dee walks into the bookstore where Josh works. Sophie, who works across the street, senses something suspicious after watching the strange man.

After a magical fight that involves both siblings, they discover Josh's boss isn't exactly who he's claiming to be.

He is in fact the famous Nicolas Flamel, whose tomb lies empty. He and his wife have been on the run to escape Dr. Dee's clutches and hide a magical book, which holds more secrets than anyone imagines. When Dr Dee captures Nicholas's wife and part of the book, Nicholas reacts quickly. Since the twins have already been exposed, he allows them to accompany him as he sets forth to recover both Perry and the book.

Michael Scott pens the first novel in a new series with action-packed adventure and fantasy. Harry Potter fans will, of course, recognize the name Nicholas Flamel, but that's where the similarities between the two stories end. THE ALCHEMYST delivers a fresh spin on magic that is sure to please.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Rummel

Two everyday kids who are caught up in one of the world’s darkest secrets. The secret of eternal life is being protected by a 700-year-old man, Nicholas Flamel.

Josh and Sophie are in a race against time to save humanity from certain doom. Josh and Sophie stumble onto the codex, one of the world’s most powerful item’s in history, which has years of history, continuing before Christ, and has spells powerful enough to enslave the human race and change the world as we know it. Josh and Sophie have special powers that have be prophesized that will either help save, or destroy the earth. The story takes place in many places around the world, as they are being chased by a group of powerful immortal sorcerer’s that want the part of the codex back that Josh and Sophie stole from them.

I found this book very intriguing, and had a hard time putting the book down. I recommend this book to anyone that likes the Harry Potter series, because it has eternal life, magic, Nicholas Flamel, a character that was in the first Harry Potter novel. This book would be best for ages 12 and up.

Mike Fowler

Based on known facts, this fiction is so good, we could almost believe it real. For mythology and folklore amateurs who also enjoy the fact that it is all based on reality.

This book was exhilerating from the very first page. It allows you to explore the myth/legend of Nicholas Flamel in a way that inspires the imagination. Through the variety of characters in the novel; Scott allows himself the ability to add fact or fiction whenever he pleases, and the facts alone make this book a must read. I only wish that his next book of this series was already published so I could continue reading this wonderful story.

I think I made it about halfway through before giving up. As such, I can't give an opinion of the book as a whole, however, there are a few problems I can discuss which led me to tossing the book aside.

There is little time for introduction to the characters before Scott takes you right into the action side of things. Therefore, there is no rapport between the reader and the main characters, as you have no idea who they are, what fuels them to act the way they do, what they care about the most, et al. It's all set up so quickly that you just don't feel like you'd care if anything bad happened to any of them, and indeed, it seems trouble is afoot, so it's good to establish that connection from early on.

The writing style itself is a bit juvenile. I went into this expecting a series at least close to the calibre of Harry Potter, but I was severely let down. As J.K. Rowling's narrative can span generations, and can be read by both young and old alike (and still be enjoyable to both), these books have only one target audience: children. I would only recommend it to ages seven to fourteen. Anything above that and you will easily grow weary of how easy it is. I'm well above that, so it's not hard to grasp why I was thrown into tedium by it all.

The book itself, while its subtitle may be 'The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel', didn't seem to focus too much on Flamel himself, rather the people around him. There is surprisingly little insight into the [title] character of Nicholas Flamel, as the book focuses much more on the twins, Josh and Sophie, instead. This could have been manageable, had Scott painted a much more fascinating portrait of the two; again, though, this leads back to not setting up a solid foundation for the characters. There is nothing to know about them and thus, it's not very interesting.

I may consider giving this book to a younger relative instead. Hopefully they will get more enjoyment out of it than I did.